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Managers · code 1223

Research and development managers

Research and development managers plan, direct and coordinate the research and development activities of an enterprise or organization or of enterprises that provide related services to other enterprises and organizations. Tasks include - (a) planning, directing and coordinating research and development activities, in-house or commissioned from external research organizations, to develop new or improved technical processes, products, knowledge, or utilization of materials; (b) planning the overall research and development programme of an enterprise or organization, specifying goals and budgetary requirements; (c) leading and managing the activities of research and development staff; (d) establishing and managing budgets, controlling expenditure and ensuring the efficient use of resources; (e) establishing and directing operational and administrative procedures; (f) planning and directing daily operations; (g) overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff; (h) representing the enterprise or organization at conventions, seminars and conferences. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Product development manager - Research manager

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 328 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • product manager
  • research and development manager

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

60.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 39.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 39.7 = 60.3

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

30.3
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 5 US jobs

21.9
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 30.7 · hand skill 17.4 · cramped spaces 17.7 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 30.3 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 50, while the average is 39.7. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 50

    Planning, directing and coordinating research and development activities, in-house or commissioned from external research organizations, to develop new or improved technical processes, products, knowledge, or utilization of materials

    Medium
  2. 46.5

    Establishing and directing operational and administrative procedures

    Low
  3. 41

    Representing the enterprise or organization at conventions, seminars and conferences.

    Low
  4. 40

    Establishing and managing budgets, controlling expenditure and ensuring the efficient use of resources

    Low
  5. 39.5

    Planning the overall research and development programme of an enterprise or organization, specifying goals and budgetary requirements

    Low
  6. 35.8

    Leading and managing the activities of research and development staff

    Low
  7. 33

    Planning and directing daily operations

    Low
  8. 32.3

    Overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff

    Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
71
AI does it for you
43

Helping wins by 28 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 1325

Compared with similar jobs

There are 30 jobs in the “Managers” group, averaging 64. This one is below that.